UK court gives go-ahead to right-to-die case

The severely disabled British man who wants a doctor to be able to lawfully end his intolerable life can now proceed with his court case, a judge ruled on Monday.The High Court in London ruled that Tony Nicklinson, who is paralysed from the neck down but whose mental faculties are unaffected, can continue his legal fight to ensure that a doctor who kills him would not face a murder charge.The Ministry of Justice wanted the case to be struck out, arguing that only parliament can change the law on murder.Nicklinson, who suffers from locked-in syndrome following a stroke in 2005, has described his life as dull, miserable, demeaning, undignified and intolerable.The 57-year-old, from Wiltshire in south-west England, is forced to communicate by controlling a computer with eye movements. His paralysis is so severe that killing him would go beyond assisted suicide.Nicklinsons wife Jane said there was huge public support for his campaign for a doctor to be able to lawfully end his life.The only way to relieve Tonys suffering will be to kill him. There is absolutely nothing else that can be done for him, she said before the ruling.Judge William Charles struck out only one part of Nicklinsons claim on Monday, allowing most of the case to proceed.The judge said Nicklinson did not have a realistic chance of persuading a court to declare that existing domestic law and practice fail adequately to regulate the practice of active euthanasia.The reason for this is that the court should not engage in that debate because it is a matter for parliament, the judge said, adding that the rest of the case could proceed.Jane Nicklinson said the family were over the moon at the ruling.Reading a statement from her husband on BBC television, she said: Its no longer acceptable for 21st century medicine to be governed by 20th century attitudes to death.He doesnt want to die tomorrow, the former nurse said. But he needs to know that when he cant cope with life any more, that he has a way out. He says you cant understand how terrible it is knowing that you have no way out.Euthanasia and assisted suicide remain illegal in Britain, but an inquiry recommended in January that lawmakers should consider changing the law to let doctors help some terminally ill people end their lives.Britain has more members of Dignitas, the Swiss assisted dying organisation, than any other country except Germany, according to figures released by the group in January.More than 180 Britons have ended their lives in Dignitas clinic since the group was set up in 1998.--AFP